NNS: Piquet Jr. Wins At Road America

Nationwide

NNS: Piquet Jr. Wins At Road America

Nelson Piquet Jr. claimed his first career NASCAR Nationwide Series win in only his third series start Saturday at Road America...

John Dagys | Posted June 23, 2012 Elkhart Lake, WI

Nelson Piquet Jr. translated his first career NASCAR Nationwide Series pole into his first series victory, as the ex-F1 driver scored top honors in Saturday’s Sargento 200 at Road America.

The 26-year-old second-generation driver stretched the fuel mileage of his No. 30 Turner Motorsports Chevy to eek out a 2.258-second win over the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Michael McDowell in the action-packed 50-lap race.

Piquet became the first Brazilian to win a major NASCAR event after leading a race-high 19 laps.

“I struggled a little bit in the beginning. But when I got some clean air, I took control,” said Piquet, a regular in the Camping World Truck Series.

“The car was great. I just had to make sure I didn’t make any mistakes.”

While road racing veteran Ron Fellows finished third, the story of the race came on the final lap when a hard-charging Jacques Villeneuve made contact with Danica Patrick while battling for fourth.

Patrick, who had one of her strongest NASCAR races to date running solidly inside the top-five, spun into the Turn 5 gravel trap as a result of the contact. She settled for a 12th place result, while the 1997 F1 champion crossed the line in 6th.

"We were racing hard and I wasn't fighting with Danica," Villeneuve said. "I was fighting with Max Papis and just before the braking, I guess he was wanting to cross over and go to the inside of Danica.

"He probably didn't know I was there, so it pushed me in the grass. You don't slowdown that much in the grass, so by that time I was on the racetrack again, I was going a little bit faster than Danica. That's all."

Max Papis and Sam Hornish Jr. completed the top-five.

Kurt Busch, who started from the rear of the 43-car field following a post-qualifying transmission change, rallied to an 8th place result.

It was not a good day for point leader Elliott Sadler, who enjoyed a top-10 run until spinning after also making contact with Villeneuve with 11 laps to go.

Sadler finished 15th and yet still leads the championship, but only 11 points ahead of Austin Dillon.

John Dagys is SPEED.com’s Sportscar Racing Reporter, focusing on all major domestic and international championships. You can follow him on Twitter @johndagys or email him at

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Dagys

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR

GRAND-AM: Valiante Joins 8Star For Mid-Ohio
Daytona Prototype ace to sub for Stephane Sarrazin in next month's…
LE MANS: BoP Adjustments For GTE Announced
GTE-Pro Aston Martins handed extra weight, larger restrictor for…
LE MANS: Jim France Named LM24 Starter
GRAND-AM founder and NASCAR Vice Chairman to wave tri-colour flag…